Stand-up Scene: Lincoln Lodge is back, and the UP Club is packed

"I remember when this neighborhood used to be rich white people," says comedian Adam Burke on opening night of the revamped "Lincoln Lodge" at Subterranean in Wicker Park. "Now it's all wealthy Caucasians." He's not the only one surveying the new digs. "The roof's not leaking on anyone's head I hope," says host Ricky Gonzalez — in a gesture I assume is a jab at the Lodge's former residence. Bill Cruz whips out his iPhone and snaps a photo of this historic first audience.

After a two-month hiatus when its fate hung in an uncertain balance, the "Lincoln Lodge" is back.

The long-running comedy showcase came to a sharp and sudden end in December when the Lincoln Restaurant, its North Center home for 14 years, closed suddenly. But on this cold Friday night at the SubT, a comedy fixture is reborn. Sure, the sign above the stage is slightly askew, the seating makeshift (aside from the cozy banquettes) and the constant bar noise a tad distracting, but a cabal of Lodge clowns including Megan Gailey and Alex Stone are doing their best to welcome the Lodge to its new home.

Already I am missing the middle-aged waitresses who dished out waffle fries and cavernous mugs of beer to crowds hungry for both jokes and diner food, but the Subterranean has its obvious advantages. For starters, its bar scene is better. The mixologists are sharp and ready to pour all night, unlike at the Lincoln Restaurant — which closed up shop shortly after the show. SubT keeps regular bar hours, which will be a gift to "The Blackout Diaries," a booze-focused Lodge production hosted by Sean Flannery every Saturday.

A second big gift is the increase in foot traffic. By 8 p.m. on a Friday night, tumbleweeds could blow through the North Center intersection of Damen, Lincoln and Irving Park Road, but the Lodge's new venue in Wicker Park should put additional butts in the seats — while also breathing new life into the Lodge's celebrated "Man on the Street" segment. The Puterbaugh Sisters host tonight's version and the parade of hipsters they encounter provides endless chuckles. The Puterbaughs ask one sullen teen after another (each one apparently born camera-ready) if they are into bands like NuvaRing. It is priceless.

But the Lodge's resurrection isn't the only noteworthy event in town this week. Monday at the UP Comedy Club in Old Town, a dozen of the city's top comedians gather for the "Montreal Just For Laughs New Faces Showcase Audition" — where they do eight minutes of their best material in hopes of landing a slot at the ballyhooed July festival in Montreal (and formerly each June in Chicago).

Each comic brings his or her A-game. First up are the Puterbaughs. I don't know how these sisters do it, but their back-and-forth exchange is akin to a fast-paced, high-stakes ping pong game. "I would like to thank Forever 21," says Tiffany. "As a woman there's just not enough reasons to question yourself or your body so I'm glad there's a whole store." Adds Danielle: "Forever 21 is a stupid name. You're telling me I have to go back to a time and a place where I was throwing up Mike's Hard Lemonade down my shirt in an alley and I have to stay there forever?"

"I like to play the Facebook games," says comedian Tom Brady, a relative newcomer to the scene by way of Bloomington, Ind. "I like to play the one where you go to your ex-fiance's page and stare at pictures of her and her new boyfriend and see if you can handle it emotionally. You get bonus points if she's wearing a necklace that you bought." And in response to the women-seeking-men hookup ads placed by robots on Craigslist, Brady decides to post a fake, nonsensical one just to see if any lonely guys will respond. Here is what it reads: "Looking for a hot dude that will party with my blobs all night long. Preferably white, but I'm willing to get weird. Hoping to find somebody who will help me wake up my kids if you know what I mean." Apparently, he gets hundreds of responses to this.

Candy Lawrence looks like she's having a blast onstage. Instead of bringing the usual water bottle or beer, Lawrence is toting a water cooler jug. In the course of her time she proceeds to do the splits, pushups and a wicked show pony impression while spouting off non sequiturs such as, "I live across the street from a Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's, but I wish it were an adult contemporary McDonald's" and "Are me and Mike [Lebovitz] the only lesbians here?" We eat it up.

A normally even-keeled Danny Kallas is firing on all four cylinders tonight. "People are always giving me advice on how to pick up girls, like just go up to them and say 'Hi,'" he says. "But girls, you know you don't want a guy to just say hi when he's climbing through your bedroom window."

The crowd is hot, the comics hotter and the night is a reminder of why the scene is so good right now. In case you missed it, an encore performance is anticipated. Stay tuned.

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